NHL Notebook: Count Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon as latest stars to feel sting of Bruins’ shutdown unit

Fair or not — comparisons are an inevitable exercise in sports.

Whether it be gauging the mettle of an athlete or charting the tantalizing potential found in a young star, it’s only natural to draw parallels to a tangible presence in search of some clarity.

It’s the reason why every defensive-minded pivot that the Bruins have plucked out of various prospect pools over the years gets mentioned in the same breath as Patrice Bergeron — a scenario that puts every youngster on an uphill climb before they even don a black-and-gold sweater. (Poor Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson). 

For years, Charlie McAvoy’s projected ceiling as a minutes-munching, top-pairing blueliner capable of impacting the game down both ends of the ice had some bestowing him as the second coming of Drew Doughty. 

Still, while there are plenty of lofty (and usually ill-advised) comparisons thrown out there when it comes to heaping praise on an athlete, there is often a certain boundary you don’t cross when it comes to juxtaposing present players with the true titans of the game.

Yes, generational prospects like Crosby and McDavid were regarded as the next great thing in hockey, but you didn’t see many making “that call” when it came to comparing them to another cerebral centerman out of Brantford, Ontario. 

And even though there have been plenty of fleet-footed blueliners who have compiled extensive highlight reels filled with crisp skating and dynamic O-zone flair, you almost never see any hockey mind opt to sketch out the links between a D-man in today’s game and a certain talent out of Parry Sound. 

Just learn from Tommy Heinson’s mistake. It’s often a very slippery slope when you make some lofty comparisons. 

But that didn’t deter Jim Montgomery when asked if comparing Avs star Cale Makar to Bobby Orr was a foolhardy measure. 

“No, it’s not,” Montgomery said. “Bobby Orr is in a stratosphere by himself. But if there's anyone who's ever going to come into that stratosphere, it's going to be him.”

As much as that might leave many Bruins fans aghast — especially those fortunate ones who were able to see No. 4 conduct a symphony of O-zone mastery night in and night out — it’s hard to knock Montgomery’s proclamation in its entirety, not after seeing the body of work that Makar has put forth in just four seasons in the NHL.

Beyond the numerous individual and team accolades that Makar has achieved, all it takes is the simple eye test to see that Makar is a talent that the league has not seen in a long, long time — with his uber-skilled skating, edge work and instincts making him a matchup nightmare for just about any opponent. 

Beyond just the quick-strike potential that Makar offers in transition and his proficiency on the power play, the former UMass product often keeps fellow NHLers awake at night due to the lose-lose situation he presents when it comes to keeping him contained. 

He’s not the biggest body, but Makar isn’t the type of player you out-muscle — not with his ability to evade checks with ease. 

Want to be aggressive and pressure him up high? He can dangle and weave his way past you en route to a clear lane toward Grade-A ice.

Want to stay back and pack things in? Well, then you’re giving him a large, blank canvas to paint his next masterpiece in the offensive zone.

“You talked about a player that's blessed with everything,” Montgomery said of Makar. "He has compete. He has that anticipation. That hockey sense. He's blessed with great feet, he's blessed with being able to manipulate the puck with his hands, and then he can make finishing plays. So you're not going to deter him physically. So you got to make sure that if you're late, you're staying above him, like you're angling him.

“When you talk about stick on the puck, steering him to areas where he can't beat you. Because if you try and go too hard at him when he has the puck,  he is going to beat you. It's a matter of how. It's not a matter of if you're going to stop him and make a big hit. I've never seen him take a big hit in the league yet. That's because he has power, he has skating and he knows how to manipulate and compete.”

Makar’s talents played a major role in the warpath that the Avs conducted last spring en route to their Stanley Cup title. And even with the number of injuries that have sapped Colorado’s depth chart so far this season, this team has still piled on points in the early going thanks to the contributions of arguably two top-five NHLers in Makar and Nathan MacKinnon.

Even without other key cogs like Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Bowen Byram and Josh Manson available on Saturday night, the 1-2 punch of Makar and a fellow speedster in MacKinnon presented the most daunting challenge yet for Montogmery and his team this season — as least as far as individual assignments are concerned. 

Through the lens of just pure talent, few can match what Makar and MacKinnon can provide at their respective positions. 

But as a collective unit, the Bruins might have found the proper antidote against even the most draining matchups. And all it takes is a five-time Selke Trophy winner and two top-10 defensemen. 

Simple as that. 

Montgomery has been no stranger to shuffling up his depth chart based on matchups — and Colorado’s propensity to roll out Makar and fellow top D-man Devon Toews with MacKinnon’s line offered the perfect opportunity to counter with Boston’s five-man “shutdown” grouping. 

Yes, the 2022-23 Bruins have already found numerous avenues to beat teams — be it depth scoring, a humming power play, stout netminding, a structured zone defense, elite production from star talent, etc.

But if this current juggernaut of a Bruins team wants to survive and advance against the best of the best in the NHL come the postseason, they’re also going to need to negate (if not tilt the ice in their favor) when facing off against some superstar talent. 

Of course, the Bruins have had the personnel in place to achieve those means for years with Patrice Bergeron in place. And even at 37 years old, Bergeron’s defensive game has not waned at all — rather, it’s somehow managed to get even better. 

So far this season, Bergeron has been on the ice for 262:37 of 5v5 ice time — during which Boston has scored 11 goals … and surrendered only three. 

Bergeron and his fellow two-way comrade in Brad Marchand have made life miserable for opposing stars for years now when it comes to head-to-head matchups. 

But with Hampus Lindholm added to the mix, Montgomery now has the luxury to complement Bergeron’s line with a super-pairing of Lindholm and McAvoy — giving Boston a five-man grouping capable of controlling play against even the best that the game has to offer.

And on Saturday, that unit didn’t give Makar and MacKinnon much of anything in what was a lopsided 5-1 Bruins victory.

No one player can completely frustrate or dominate Makar when he’s out on a shift. But a structured grouping can certainly limit his options, especially with you've got a pair of defensemen in McAvoy and Lindholm who can limit O-zone time thanks to their first-pass talents and sterling transition game. 

“We forced him — you didn't see him beat any of ours forwards one on one,” Montgomery said postgame of his team’s collective effort against Makar. “So I thought we did a really good job defensively on him in the defensive zone.”

The Bruins would probably have been satisfied with the fact that both Makar and MacKinnon finished with goose eggs in the scoresheet on Saturday. But even better — the Bruins landed punches down the other end of the ice against Colorado’s top stars. 

Of McAvoy’s 16:08 of 5v5 ice time on Saturday, 12:39 was logged when MacKinnon and Colorado’s top line was out there on the frozen sheet.

And during those head-to-head minutes, the Bruins: 

Were even in shot attempts: 17-17.
Even in shots on goal: 10-10.
Held an edge in high-danger scoring chances: 6-3.
And outscored Colorado, 2-0. 

Not too shabby.

“I thought we controlled the play,” Montgomery said. “And I thought Lindholm and McAvoy were excellent.”

If the Bruins do plan on playing deep into June this season, they’re going to have to hands full against plenty of the game’s best individual talents. 

But as seen on Saturday, even the true legends of today’s game will have tough sledding ahead if they’ve got the Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk / Lindholm-McAvoy grouping out on the ice with them. 

“Any time you're talking about Bobby Orr and you're putting him in the same sentence, you're jinxing someone,” Montgomery said of Makar’s quiet night.

OTHER NOTES

Yes, a Lindholm-McAvoy pairing has been a force so far this season … but imagine a duo of Ray Bourque and Zdeno Chara out on the ice together? 

A sellout crowd at Warrior Ice Arena was able to view such a sight on Saturday, as Chara and Bourque both skated on the same pair as part of the Bruins Alumni Team’s participation in the Nathan H. Hardy Memorial Game. 

The event, which benefits three charities — the Warrior for Life Fund, Fisher House Boston, and Operation Hat Trick — saw Chara, Bourque and a slew of other B’s greats play against both active and retired members of the Navy out on the ice. 

Chara, making his Bruins alumni debut out on the frozen sheet, was joined by two other “younger” alums on the blue line in Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid. 

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In a far from a shocking development, Jordan Binnington — in the midst of once again being lit up in net — threw another temper tantrum on the ice Saturday, hitting Jason Zucker in the face while the Penguins forward was skating behind the Blues’ net.

Of course, Zucker would have the last laugh, scoring a goal against Binnington in the following period — leading to Binnington getting yanked after coughing up four goals over 17 shots. 

And after Binnington appeared to challenge the Penguins’ bench on his way off the ice, it seems like even his own coach has had enough of his antics.